


Side by Side in this Gentle Descent

by frankiewenttohollywood



Category: K-pop, Nine Muses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 02:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4417070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankiewenttohollywood/pseuds/frankiewenttohollywood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sun is dying and Hyuna's there to save it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Side by Side in this Gentle Descent

**Author's Note:**

> Sunshine AU. For the [Spring Exchange at unnideul](http://unnideul.livejournal.com/25022.html).

Sometimes, she thinks she can fool herself into feeling the warmth of the sun on her face. If she stands there for long enough, the light would wash over her like it did when she was younger, carefree and unaware.  
  
Back then she could enjoy the feel of grass underneath her bare feet because it was ordinary. Being able to run around in shorts and a thin shirt wasn't something she had to worry about taking for granted. Then again, back then she couldn't fathom such a thing as sunlight being finite.  
  
Hyuna burrows her hands deeper into her pockets and exhales long enough for the cold to creep its way down her throat. It's always the little things that bother her the most, like being able to see her breath hang in the air during the middle of what is supposed to be summer.  
  


 

*

 

  
  
The whole concept of a solar winter is oxymoronic to Hyuna, to say the least.  
  
She understands the science behind it, she's lived and breathed it since before she could even drive. That doesn't mean she jump at the chance to knock down the first year graduate student who coined the term.  
  
Being confusing can only distract people for so long.

 

  
*

 

  
"How are the numbers looking?"  
  
Hyuna almost doesn't hear the question at first. She's lost track of time again. It happens, if anything it's a good indicator of how thorough she's being. She's not even sure how many hours deep into her shift she is but she does know that whatever it is she probably has twice as many cups of disgusting, prepackaged, pre-assembled coffee in her system.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
Hyemi gestures to the maps and flight charts Hyuna has been huddled over for the past week. "Everything good?"  
  
"Define good."  
  
Hyemi doesn't roll her eyes at her, she's one of those rare interns who takes everything seriously.  
  
"It's looking better than last time," Hyuna says with a small shrug.  
  
"Last time the simulations showed the payload going off coarse and crashing." Hyuna knows Hyemi doesn't actively try to sound deadpan, it's just the way she comes off as sometimes. She'd think Hyemi was amused if she didn't know any better.  
  
But she  _does_  know better and it's hard to joke around when every little thing is literally a matter of life and death.  
  
"That's because last time we had a team of monkeys who thought it was normal that they weren't using the metric system." This elicits a grin from Hyemi and Hyuna feels a tiny sense of accomplishment—she takes the victories where she can.  
  
"Speaking of," Hyemi glances over at command's main office, "the new recruits are supposed to start today."  
  
"I think they're already here." Hyuna makes a note of the unfamiliar faces walking in. It's been long enough now that she only feels a little bit guilty for thinking she won't have to remember them. There are enough things to worry about—kids who think they can handle the stress of saving the world aren't one of them.  
  
"Awkward first meetings, this should be fun," Hyemi mutters, brushing away invisible specks of dust from her lab coat.  
  
"You were awkward when you started," Hyuna points out, standing up to look somewhat professional.  
  
"No, I wasn't."

 

  
*

 

  
  
The day she meets Sungah for the first time is also the first time since middle school that she wakes up late. She never oversleeps her alarm, ever. She's horrified to even think about the possibility of there being rats in her apartment chewing on the cords and ruining her alarm clocks, but it's the most reasonable explanation. It's not like the  _cats_  would do it.  
  
By the time she shows up at the office Sungah is already sitting at her desk and looking thoroughly out of place.  
  
"Hi?"  
  
Sungah jumps up and is the textbook definition of overeager. "Hello," she says with a little too much pep and sticks out a hand towards Hyuna. "I'm Sungah, your new mentee." She squints a little for a moment as if working through something in her head. "That doesn't sound right. Mentee?"  
  
Hyuna doesn't know quite what to say so she just stares at Sungah. The longer she stares the more her face feels a little off—in a good way. It's one of those things Hyuna would never voice out lout because there's just no way to make it sound like not an insult, but really, she does mean it in the best way possible. Sungah the new intern with the face that's a little off, in a good way.  
  
Sungah's face continues to grow more confused and Hyuna wonders why they haven't finished shaking hands yet.  
  
"Protégé?" Sungah asks more to herself than Hyuna. "One who is being mentored," she says with triumph. "You're supposed to be my mentor."  
  
Right. So now she's got a mentee.

 

  
*

 

  
"What do you do?"  
  
"Make sure people don't die."  
  
"Cool."

 

  
*

 

  
  
(She never professed to being a good mentor, in fact, she never even volunteered to be one.)

 

  
*

 

  
"Who's your new fan?"  
  
Hyuna doesn't look up from the heat shield study she's poring through and just swats at Hyemi until she hopefully goes away.  
  
"Brought you some fresh coffee," Sungah says from seemingly out of nowhere. She sets the mug down and eases herself into the chair next to Hyuna's desk. "Hi," she says to Hyemi with a big grin.  
  
Hyuna's surprised but it's a welcome surprise. Even the _interns_  didn't fetch them coffee.  
  
"Why didn't you get anything for yourself?"  
  
Sungah makes a face at her. "I hate coffee."  
  
Somewhere between Sungah ending up being someone who doesn't actually talk as much as she appears and the frequent coffee trips without being asked to, Hyuna finds herself growing fond of her mentor status.

 

  
*

 

  
Hyuna's schedule—mostly just hours of trial and error being interrupted by sleep—is made a little less dull with the introduction of an oversized puppy in human form following her everywhere.  
  
Generally, most of the lab techs end up staying late nearly every other day, either out of necessity or just plain old hard headedness. In Hyuna's case it's probably a little bit of both. What they're doing, it's important, they all know that. It's why people usually don't complain about the long hours. Those who do don't end up lasting that long; they burn out for lack of a better term.  
  
There's a messed up irony in it and Hyuna finds it hilarious, really.

 

  
*

 

  
"If I have to go through one more dissertation on solar sailing I am going to stab someone." Hyemi drops a stack of binders on Hyuna's desk and strolls away.  
  
"Thanks," Hyuna calls out after her, "it's not like this stuff is important or anything." She briefly considers shoving it to the side and letting one of the other interns skim it.  
  
"Can I go through it?" Sungah picks up a binder from the top of the pile and dives in before waiting for Hyuna.  _IKAROS to Venus_.  
  
Leave it to a bunch of scientists to tempt fate.

 

  
*

 

  
_The sun is dying_.  
  
She keeps little reminders around for herself, not because she's a cynic, but because she's realistic. Either they figure out how to keep the sun alive or they all die, it's simple.  
  
All those times she learned about a star's life cycle back in school weren't supposed to be tangible. They were always told that cycles take millions and millions of years to complete. Stars don't just up and die without any real warning. These aren't the problems she should ever have to deal with, they're supposed to be for other people farther down the line. That's what she was taught anyway.  
  
One generation's procrastination is another's mass extinction.

 

  
*

 

  
"Why do you do what you do?"  
  
Sungah looks absolutely philosophical and it's not even eight yet.  
  
"Why do  _you_?"  
  
She shrugs and flips through her notebook. "Not sure yet."

 

  
*

 

  
The short version is Hyuna wants to help save the world.  
  
The long version, well, there really isn't a long version.

 

  
*

 

  
"You should come over for dinner tonight."  
  
Energy beams and mirrors are not only cost effective but extremely lightweight as well. If they could just figure out how to manage the radiation intake then so many of their worries would vanish.  
  
"I've got some wine I've been hoarding ever since the large scale rationing started to take effect."  
  
Propulsion is great, being able to remotely steer without any large delays would be even better. Maybe there's a way to—  
  
"Wait, what?" Hyuna stops going through her notes and looks over at Sungah. The same Sungah with wildly inappropriate lab attire. Come to think of it, she's never even seen Sungah step foot in any of the tech rooms. Not that she'd be allowed to anyway, what with the amount of hazards she's got on her at all times.  
  
"And people call  _me_  a space case." Sungah grins at her, all teeth and earnest pride in her awful pun. She stands and tugs Hyuna up with her.  
  
Maybe she lets herself be bossed around sometimes, but only occasionally.

 

  
*

 

  
(Occasionally turns into a few nights per week ordeal. It's nothing major, just two people having dinner every now and then. And if Sungah sometimes lingers in the doorway as Hyuna's getting ready to leave then that's not a big deal either. Hyuna's not one for ignoring things, she just prefers not to deal with it.)

 

  
*

 

  
"Your apartment doesn't seem all that furnished," Hyuna points out one night. At some point they stopped doing proper dinners and moved to sitting on the floor with their backs against Sungah's couch. The television offers an easy out for unwanted conversing but if that were the case Hyuna wouldn't keep coming back in the first place. It's cosy and honestly preferable—in a way makes it her feel like they're on a more even playing field.  
  
What game they're playing is still something Hyuna has to figure out.  
  
"I move around a lot. Seems easier to just have less stuff to pack," Sungah says around a mouth full of noodles. "I'm usually only in one place for a couple months at a time."  
  
It occurs to Hyuna that she's never been charmed by the way someone eats, especially if it's as messy as Sungah.  
  
"Why have you stuck around here for so long then?"  
  
It takes a moment for Sungah to say anything. She fiddles with her noodles and the silence is painfully drawn out.  
  
"I don't know," Sungah says with a look that seems to say the complete opposite.

 

  
*

 

  
"You know, I don't think I've ever actually seen you take notes on any of the actual science around here." It's been who knows how many months of Sungah following Hyuna around now and it's taken her this long to notice. Sure, Sungah writes down what she does and says but never anything about relevant equations or research. She'd be worried about corporate espionage except it's not exactly a terrible thing if someone else has this information and finds a solution to all their problems.  
  
"Should I?" Sungah goes through her notes, nodding at herself and mouthing things under her breath. "No, I think I've got what I need."  
  
Strike two comes in the form of Hyuna never actually taking the time to look over exactly what Sungah is constantly writing down.  
  
Sungah hands over the notebook without being asked and Hyuna finds herself unbothered by the presumption. She's picked up some tics from being in the sciences for so long. Defensiveness over assumptions can get old after having to justify herself and her position in the field to those far lesser than her, as far as merit goes anyway.  
  
Sungah's handwriting is atrocious. It takes some deciphering but she can make out most of what's on the pages.  _Super lab with super ladies. It's the end of the world as we know it, or is it. The science of saving the sun—for dummies._  
  
"Oh," Hyuna finally murmurs. "A lot of things just started making more sense."

 

  
*

 

  
"What I want to know is why no one thought to mention that I'd have a journalist shadowing me."  
  
"I just want to know how you never noticed."

 

  
*

 

  
  
"I'm sorry, I thought you knew." Sungah looks sheepish even though she has no reason to be.  
  
Hyuna brushes it off, in the end it's really not that big a deal. "It's okay," she says with a smile. It's probably even a little funny judging by Hyemi's reaction.  
  
Sungah sets her glass of wine down and plays with the frayed fabric of her old couch. "I just thought, well, it would make sense why you never..."  
  
Hyuna doesn't even flinch when Sungah drops the fabric and plays with her fingers. She barely knows this girl, it should be unnerving.  
  
"I just always assumed you didn't want to violate a no fraternization rule or something."  
  
For the first time since the revelation of the new recruit turned journalist imposter, Hyuna's able to find the humor in everything. As if a no fraternization rule would ever survive at their lab. Hyuna may not notice everything but she'd have to be dumb, blind, and working from home not to see the blatant relationships of her coworkers.  
  
"What's so funny?" Sungah's grinning as well, looking ready to be let in on some big joke.  
  
"Nothing," Hyuna explains, smile still plastered on her face, "there's just no rules about fraternization. Have you even seen the place?""  
  
"Oh," Sungah nods to herself and shifts so they're facing each other with Sungah's knees against her thighs. "Okay then," she grabs the lapels of Hyuna's shirt and gently tugs. "Promise you won't tell HR about this," she says somewhat seriously before leaning in.  
  
Sungah kisses like she does everything else, playfully and a little messily. She moves forward until she's straddling Hyuna's hips. Hyuna rests her hands on top of her thighs, steadying Sungah and taking the lead. She nips at Sungah's bottom lip and slows their kisses.  
  
After all, they've got plenty of time. It's not like the world is ending or anything.

 

  
*

 

  
(And for the next couple hours, it really feels like the world isn't ending. Hyuna takes it slow and steady, guides Sungah's hand down between her legs with leisure. For all the times Hyuna let herself be bossed around, she pays it back in full and with interest. Sungah's all deep breaths and silent demans, twisting and writhing until they knock over the long forgotten wine glasses.)

 

  
*

 

  
_The sun is dying._  
  
Another day, another reminder.  
  
Sungah catches up to Hyuna on the way back to her desk and links their pinkies together. "I caught wind of some gossip in the break room," she mock whispers conspiratorially.  
  
A smile threatens its way to her face but Hyuna intertwines their fingers together instead of encouraging Sungah.  
  
"It's probably not about us," she adds anyway.  
  
Hyuna idly wonders if this is what a distraction feels like.

 

  
*

 

  
The solar winter transitions to actual winter and it borders on unbearable.  
  
She thinks their team is getting close to  _something_  with their research and tests. Solar sailing. There's something and then there's solar sailing. Solar sailing that might be useless if the sun is becoming a dud of a battery but it's something.  
  
"You know how when people's hearts stop, you can send a jolt of electricity to jump start it? Why don't we just do that, but on a larger scale?"  
  
Hyuna is still neck deep in the solar sail research and at this point, she'd gladly welcome anything that doesn't depend on a slowly fading energy source.  
  
"I don't think that's how a defibrillator actually works but yeah."  
  
"Yeah." Sungah grins and leans over to give Hyuna a quick peck on the lips.  
  
Her heart skips a beat but probably not for the right reasons. No one around them seems to pay them any mind but it doesn't help the uneasy feeling.  
  
"Give the sun a little boost of energy," Sungah states proudly.  
  
If only it were that simple. Launch a ridiculous amount of warheads directly at the sun and revive it. Because warheads can be nuclear.  
  
Nuclear power.  
  
Nuclear  _fusion_.  
  
Hyuna grabs Sungah's face and kisses her so hard it leaves her lips tingling and swollen.  
  
"You might have just saved us all."

 

  
*

 

  
It's simple: go to the sun and throw bombs at it until there's enough momentum to get it going again on its own.  
  
It's so stupidly simple that it can only have come from Sungah.  
  
They're going to jump start the sun and it's going to work.  
  
It's already the end of the world, a little optimism couldn't hurt.


End file.
